What We Don't Know
by diamondlilyflower
Summary: Lyra Carlisle, the young victor of the 69th Hunger Games from the fishing district. She is the little starlet of the capitol, will the little victor survive the brutal touch of president Snow and the Hunger Games? how will she survive the Quarter Quell and rebelling against the people who use and abuse her? will her heart survive the soft touch of her mentor, Finnick Odair?
1. Chapter 1

Lyra sat on the train, finally on her way home to District Four after her almost suspiciously long stay in Twelve. She tried to think of how she would explain away what she had been doing there, Finnick and Mags, all the other district Four victors weren't believing the 'I wanted to see Haymitch again' excuse, not any more.

She knew that she wasn't the only one that Snow had put a barcode on, she knew for a fact that Finnick had one, that they had tried to put one on Johanna, but she couldn't bring the strength forth within herself to admit it to them. Haymitch, in a way, is her person. Whenever she had an appointment with a client and she wasn't mentoring at the time of the Games, he and Effie let her stay in the spare mentor's room up on the twelfth floor.

Most of the time she was actually mentoring, but Mags insisted that every once in a while she had to have a break. It's been four years since she won her games, four long and harrowing years. She doesn't have many memories of the time before she was embroiled in the politics of the Capitol, of President Snow. After her games, Finnick had kept one of his first promises to her, the victory tours' last day, when they were in the capitol dining with the president and all of his insane capitolite subjects, was her thirteenth Birthday and as promised, eighteen year old Finnick escorted her in and stayed by her side for the initial stages of the night, only disappearing when the president had glared his way, at which point he had gone and she was left, but only for a moment before Haymitch made a move to her.

He helped her make her way through the crowds of her 'adoring' fans and to a group in the corner that consisted of Beetee, Chaff, Seeder and Haymitch himself. Chaff and Haymitch were downing shots together, whilst Beetee and Seeder kept up amicable conversation, which Lyra easily slipped into.

She had been friends with that group of victors ever since.

Of course, since that night she had mentored with Finnick for the 70th, 71st and 72nd games and she was going to mentor again for the 73rd, before Mags took over on the 74th. Finnick had told her of his… forced nightly affairs, that was after her second time mentoring, when she was fourteen. By the next time she was mentoring she had a barcode on her arm and not the heart to tell him. Every night when he came back, thoroughly loathing himself and the capitol and president Snow, it was her who he told; it was her who dried his tears. But she went to Haymitch.

It was a long train ride from Twelve to Four, but she made the journey often, more often than not she took the train from Four to the Capitol, the Capitol to Twelve and then Twelve to Four in the space of a week. When the train did halt at the platform, she stepped off and immediately took a deep breath of the fresh, moist air. Her hair, mousy and a few inches past shoulder length, swung from where it was tied high on her head with every step she took.

The town had been her home for twelve years before she got her house in victor's village, but she never liked to stay there long, not after everything that had happened there. Her parents, her brother, and his wife, her other brother…

The first house she went to was not her own, instead Annie Cresta's front door was already open before she was even up the stairs, it had probably been open since dawn, when Mags popped round for their morning ritual cup of herbal tea. "Annie? You in here?" She called out. A vague sound of confirmation rang through the house, so Lyra kicked off her boots and made her way through to the living room, where the red headed girl was sat on the sofa, cross legged. She turned and spotted Lyra, a naïve, childlike grin illuminates her face and she said "Ly, you're home."

"Yeah, Annie and I shouldn't be leaving again for a while. Is Finnick around? Shouldn't he be here? He usually is at this time-"

"He left on the train a few days ago; he said that he hoped to be back today. Where were you all this time Ly? It's been two weeks and I haven't seen you." It's times like those that Lyra feels most guilty for lying to her friends, the times when Annie really demonstrates how intellectual she is. Those are the moments that you see the girl she was, three years ago, before she went in to the games.

Lyra had seen her, known her before, but not very strongly. She had been friends with Lyra's older brother, neither of them were in good shape now, her brother dead and Annie prone to fits of panic and hysteria.

"Do you want to go to the beach, Annie? Go swimming with me?"

Annie readily agreed. The two girls were in shorts and vests and stopped by to speak to Mags on their way to the beach, who readily greeted them, but then sent them on their way without her.

Together Annie and Lyra sat on the sand the water cool and refreshing on their feet. It was Annie that filled most of the silence, with all the different stories of the days she had missed. Annie, truly, was the only one in the entire district that did not suspect anything of Lyra; she believed it every time she came back and told her that she had gone to Twelve to see Haymitch.

They sat like that for an hour or two, neither noticing the person standing just off the beach, watching them intently and smiling. Finnick Odair ran a hand through his tousled sandy hair, smiling at the sight before him. Annie and Lyra. Lyra had always had a way with Annie that nobody else had ever been able to come close to. She was comfortable with Mags, had a friendship going with Finnick himself, but with Lyra, they were so close that they could almost be siblings.

He didn't have to wait much longer before Annie left the beach and headed home, whereas Lyra stayed where she was. He waited a minute or two, before he made his way over, threw his arm around her shoulders and sat beside her.

She turned to him, with a sideways glare, that was, in his opinion positively adorable. She couldn't hold it for long though, she broke out into her small endearing smile and leaned in so that her head rested on his shoulder. "I missed you Lyra." He whispered as he placed a little kiss on the top of her head.

"I missed you too." She murmured back.

"Haymitch is a lucky guy, gets to spend this much time with you."

She almost tensed, almost. She caught herself just in time, she knew Finnick was suspicious and for a moment she thought about opening up, about opening up her closet and letting him see all of the skeletons she kept in there, but she couldn't do that. He saw her as innocent, he still held her in the same regard as he had that little twelve year old girl he met on that morning, the morning before she was reaped:

_She woke up that morning from another bout of fresh nightmares, her parents being shot by peacekeepers only a month or so prior plaguing her with a relentless fury. Cold sweat rolled down her back and her breath came in gasps, strained and pained. It didn't help that her first reaping day was in a few hours either. Checking her window and finding that it was still mostly dark, the first rays of sun just kissing the sky, she scrambled up, pulling on simple shorts and a pink, floral vest. At the top of the stairs she stuck her head around the door of her brothers' room. It was only her and Ricky in the house now, their eldest brother, George, having moved out to live with his wife. Ricky was still asleep, that's how he spent most of his time. He was eighteen and after an accident whilst he was out fishing he was bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. She kissed his forehead gently and then slipped on her boots at the front door and left the house._

_She was light on her feet and easily evaded peacekeepers as she escaped the district into the slight shrubbery. It wasn't a long walk to where she was aiming for though. She kept going until she found her gap in the rock and she slid through it. She followed the small tunnel until it brought her out on a ledge of rock that was little more than a metre above the surface of the water. With it being reaping day she couldn't hang her legs out to touch the water out of fear of being spotted by the excess peacekeepers floating around with little to do at such an early hour, so instead she crossed them and just stared out at the water. She found it so soothing, calming after her nightmares. She ended up down here on most mornings, sick to the stomach from nightmares, with nobody to talk to. Not her brother that had moved across the district to live with his wife and had left his twelve year old sister to care for their crippled brother, not her crippled brother that had enough on his plate anyway. She nearly didn't hear somebody else coming down the tunnel behind her. But she did, turning around just in time to see the face of Panem's youngest ever victor.  
Finnick Odair. _

_She may have been four and a bit years younger than him, but she knew that every woman in the Capitol had loved him, that's how he managed to win, with all the sponsors. He flashed her a smile, like the ones he did in his interviews with Caesar Flickerman. He knew she felt uncomfortable, but he moved to sit right next to her anyway. The cave didn't offer much space, so she couldn't object to it.  
They sat in silence for a few moments before she spoke to him. "Do you have nightmares?"_

_He seemed stunned at her question as he gazed at her, like she was a puzzle. He was still for a few moments before he nodded._

_"How do you... How do you manage?" She asked uncertainly. "Every single time I fall asleep I wake up in the middle of the night and I feel like I'm going to combust or go mentally unstable, maybe even both. How do you manage to push them away?"_

_Again he looked stunned, but he recovered much quicker that time "Find someone to open up to. Every night before you go to sleep, tell them everything you're afraid of. It doesn't keep them completely away, but it makes you feel more at peace with it." He paused for a moment. "What do you have nightmares about?" That was it. The question that would either have her running away from him or maybe be the beginning of his first real friendship since the games. _

_She was silent for an awfully long time before responding "you were around when two people were executed by peacekeepers for speaking out of turn about Snow?"_

_He nodded. "I asked the peacekeepers to let them be, but they shot the woman first right in the skull. The man, her husband was begging for him to be spared so he could look after his three kids. I remember him saying that his eldest had just turned twenty four and his youngest was thirteen in winter. Her first reaping and she was already having trouble sleeping. They shot him anyway."_

_She didn't speak. Didn't trust herself to for a few moments until she managed two words "my parents" he understood immediately, wrapping his arm securely round her shoulders. They sat there for a while, until the sun was making its ascent and they both needed to get ready for the reaping. He left first and pulled her out after him. "Before you go, what's your name?" He asked, his slightly flirty grin making its way back onto his face. _

_"Come find me after the games Odair and I just might tell you."  
For a moment she thought he was going to stick his tongue out at her like some kind of child, but he didn't. Instead he met her eyes and said "until then, my little rebel girl." She tilted her head at him, confused by the name, but he just shrugged and headed back into district four._  
Four hours later he found out her name. It was written on the slip of paper pulled from the reaping bowl.

That was the girl that he was desperate to believe that she still was. The naïve little girl, who'd just lost her parents, but still had her older brothers. The one that was young and trusted him so much that she told him her life story just after she'd met him. The girl that didn't tell him her name, the girl who broke rules and hid outside of the district on the day when most peacekeepers were about.

But that girl didn't exist anymore, dead and buried ever since she went into the games. Ever since talking to President Snow. Ever since getting that barcode on the back of her neck. That girl had looked up to Finnick Odair, her mentor, the one that got her through the games.

This girl, this Lyra Carlisle, she implicitly trusts Finnick Odair; she has no family apart from Mags, Annie and Finnick Odair. This Lyra Carlisle loves Finnick Odair and she doesn't have the heart to tell him.

**So... I wrote this whilst on holiday and I thought I'd upload it anyway, even though I haven't edited it yet. I really want to know what everyone thinks of it and I hope you all enjoyed reading it.**

**xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

Finnick and Mags were leaving in a week, mentoring for the 74th games. Lyra had to come up with an excuse to get out of the district and to the Capitol without being seen and Lyra had to leave before them, Snow would have liked her to have left yesterday, but she hadn't. They were so suspicious, every single one of the district Four victors were prompting her, waiting for her to slip up and reveal why her 'trips to Twelve' were becoming more and more frequent and how she often stayed longer than she used to.

Before she had been hesitant to tell them, worried that they would think less of her or pity her, see her like the common people of the district saw Annie. But that was before. She didn't have an appointment in the Capitol until the reaping day, but Snow had requested to see her the day before and also 'requested' that she stay quiet and tell nobody about it.

Oddly enough, even though she had kept all of the meetings, the clients, the pain, a secret from everyone apart from both Haymitch and Effie it was proving impossibly difficult now that she absolutely had to keep it secret. All of the lies, all of the secrecy it was finally, finally pushing her so hard that she feared she was going to snap under the pressure.

Her nightmares were getting worse and more frequent, often haunting her days as well as when she slept. She stayed outside of the district a lot more often, sat on the ledge where she first met Finnick, her long legs swinging out over the water on the days when it was dark and overcast. That was where he found her that particular morning, sitting on the ledge, chin on her knees, thin, but persistent, rivulets of tears racing down her cheeks.

He didn't say anything, just sat beside her, so close that their legs were touching. She stretched out her legs when she felt him sit beside her, inadvertently making it so that their legs were touching, from hip to ankle. She turned so that she didn't have to look at him, but then he reached out, gently grabbing her chin in his calloused hand and turned her face to face his.

"What are you crying about, Lyra?" He asked quietly.

She shook her head. "Nothing Finn."

"It's not nothing Lyra." He insisted.

She shook her head again. "It's nothing. Drop it."

"No! Lyra it's not possibly nothing. You've been distant for weeks, you disappear for weeks at a time without so much as a days' notice! This is not nothing and for God's sake Lyra I deserve to know what it is!" His voice was as loud as he could raise it in this place outside the district. If he went much louder then the peacekeepers would most definitely hear them.

Lyra was very quickly consumed by the burning fire of rage from his words. "You don't get to demand when I tell you things! You don't get to demand anything of me! Finnick Odair I am not one of the capitolites who will hang on to every single word you say just because it was you that said them!" After basically hissing that at him, her anger dissipated and was instead replaced with despair and desperate need for him to drop the subject. "Finnick I can't tell you so please, please just drop it. Please."

She knew that she sounded pathetic, most likely looked pathetic as well. Her face red from all the crying, clothes wrinkled and sweat stained from her frustrated running, that somewhat calmed her down, running on the beach on her own at random hours of the day when nobody was about to watch. The hand on her chin, that both of them had forgotten about during their heated exchange, absently moved round to the back of her neck.

That time, she didn't react fast enough to not tense. She tensed on the contact to the exact spot that had ruined her life, that held all of the secrets she had been keeping. Finnick was not a stupid man, he immediately recognized the change. "What's wrong with the back of your neck?" He asked, his voice thick with suspicion and a hint of worry.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." She growled, teeth grinding together in frustration. "Finnick Odair. You cannot demand things of me when I do not want to speak to you about them. You do not get to demand things of me when I implicitly tell you that I cannot tell you. Get it through your thick skull Odair." She paused, the seething fury seeping back through her skin. "I. Can. Not. Tell. You. Finnick. Odair."

Before he had enough time to respond, to do anything that could successfully stop her, Lyra was gone. He put his head in his hands. He had pushed her, tried to get the answers from her that all of the victors were asking for, but he had pushed her too hard, caused her to close up. He sat there for a while, wracking his brain for how to fix things with her, how to make her trust him enough to tell him.

Knowing her she had run immediately to Annie, knowing that nobody would dare to confront her while she was there. So, he headed up to Annie's, only to find that the twenty year old was already sound asleep, her red hair fanned out like a halo, sleeping soundly. If only she would sleep that peacefully through the night. Almost definitely she would awaken again in… maybe three hours, maybe less.

As quietly as he had come in he left again, this time going across the street to Lyra's own house. He eased the door open as quietly as possible, but the creak it emitted echoed around the whole house and he cursed. That was the end of his 'sneaking into her house to check on her and then leaving again before she even notices' plan. He walked through the house, not bothering to walk too lightly or too quickly.

He checked everywhere in her house, even under a few of the loose floorboards, he couldn't put something like that past her. She definitely wasn't there. But… Where the hell was she? He replaced the floorboards and then left again, heading out into the main District, even though she hated being there. He ran his hand through his hair, effectively mussing it up, but he didn't care. He needed to find Lyra. He needed to stop Lyra, before she started to spiral, he couldn't lose her like that, not again. He could not deal with another Annie.

She was involved in something and that something was bad. She couldn't tell him what it was, so that just left him with even more questions, his curiosity completely insatiable. Suddenly he heard the faint whiz of a train on the nearby tracks and he cursed. She was about to disappear again and he had given her absolutely no reasons to rush on her way back.

He sped up, ran towards the station. If he ran quickly, he thought maybe, just maybe he might be able to stop her from leaving. Just as he got to the station and ran up onto the platform the train was leaving. The wind battered him, so he took a few steps back, but he saw the unmistakable glint of mousy hair and glistening, blue eyes, wide and doe like on a tear stained face.

He had been too late, she was already leaving. He had pushed her and he had pushed her over the edge, not giving her a parachute to ease the fall. She had trusted him, but not enough to tell him what was bothering her, he had trusted her, but not enough to let her come to him on her own, when she was ready.

But now she was on that train and with the direction she was going it couldn't be taking her to district Twelve. But he knew exactly the direction that it was going.

The Capitol.

Damn it.

**Ok, so as a writer I've noticed that I have a very common tendency to write something and have it have a few (or many) things that aren't particularly explained well, because I have a habit to not explain things that I understand. So if anyone spots anything that I could improve my explanation for, or if you spot something you don't really understand the context of, just let me know in a review and I'll address it in the next chapter;) Or you could always leave a review if you thought it was done well:) But I think that just reading it is a great compliment, so thank you. xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

That week in the capitol seemed to drag on for years. Appointments every single day and night, any time she spent in her capitol lodgings, she spent bandaging her wounds and wishing that she had stayed with Finnick, with Annie, or Haymitch or anywhere except following Snow's orders and coming to the capitol.

Sleep did not come easily. Usually, at home she struggled to sleep and was plagued with recurring nightmares in the hours that she did manage, but here she could not sleep at all. The moment she shut her eyes the nightmares started, whether it be about her games, about lying to her family, about her parents and brothers or just about the appointments that Snow made her take.

Day by day the capitol got busier, the hype for the games increasing tenfold as the reapings drew nearer and nearer. Two days before reaping day Snow cancelled her appointments. Without a doubt that was so that her visible bruises had time to heal before the cameras caught sight of her, before Finnick or Haymitch had a chance to catch sight of her.

It was the day of the reapings that she was called to Snows office, escorted by four peacekeepers that were most likely entirely necessary. He was sat behind his desk, scratching his beard in a thoughtful manner when the peacekeepers announced her.

With one look he dismissed them all, leaving her standing rigidly too far away from the door to successfully make a run for it. "Miss Carlisle, please sit down." He said, turning to face her, he smiled, but that smile only made her want to throw up, more than she already wanted to.

She didn't say anything, but stiffly obeyed. She sat on the very edge of the chair opposite Snow, watching him, trying to look unaffected by the awkward silence. "Miss Carlisle. It's so very polite of you to join me here today." She just barely stopped herself from scoffing at the statement, "and I hope you have enjoyed your week here with us in the capitol." He stopped and it took her a moment to realize that he actually wanted her to respond, to say something, anything.

Rapidly she tried to think of something to say that wouldn't constitute as treasonous or ungrateful, but wouldn't paint an image that she was satisfied with being toyed with. "Well, it is very different from home, an entirely new experience, president, but I do hope to go back home and stay with my family for a long time after this, I fear I have gone without them long enough."

"Ah." Immediately she was thrown into a panic. He wasn't sending her home, he wasn't letting her go. "You see, Miss Carlisle, you have already been spotted in the capitol in time for this year's games, so you are wanted for so many interviews during the course of the lead up to this games that it would be simply, unjust to send you to district Four now. But, I do think that we can come to an arrangement regarding how… inconvenient this may be to you." Again, he paused, but she was completely bewildered as to how she should respond, so she simply said,

"So I'm to stay in the capitol for the duration of the games, sir?"

"Yes you are, Miss Carlisle, but I do believe you need something to occupy your time that won't have you so… suspiciously absent, as much as the last week of your activities have been." He smiled, maliciously, "but, I know that your original district already has two mentors sorted out and on their way, or at least they will be."

"I don't know what you're implying for me to do." She said, cautiously.

"Well, miss Carlisle, there is one district that doesn't' have two mentors on the way." He said, malicious grin looking less malicious and more… smug?

"Sir, are you implying that you want me to mentor for district Twelve instead of my own district?"

"I always knew you were a smart one, Lyra." Why had he called her Lyra all of a sudden instead of Miss Carlisle? "I'm going to let you inform Mr. Abernathy upon his arrival. I'm sure the people will simply adore the fact that you and I are charitable enough to give the poor, sickly outlying districts support from career victor no less and I'm sure that you will not be informing Mr. Odair of any of your… injuries?"

She nodded mutely, suddenly very aware of exactly why he had tried to be less formal with her. He wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to cause any more trouble for him, than she had already caused for being spotted before the games already in the capitol when for all intents and purposes she was still in Four. He was likely going to manipulate her friendship with Haymitch if she said anything else, blackmail her into secrecy or keep her in the capitol longer.

"I'm so glad that you are happy with this Lyra. I trust you will be comfortable staying in the district Twelve tribute centre floor?"

Again, she nodded without saying anything.

"You have grown into a lovely young lady Lyra and I'm not the only one who sees it, I think you need to realize that everything you say is food for the people here and I hope you know that if you aren't careful what you say things could get a lot worse for you."

With that, not at all veiled threat, the peacekeepers came back in and escorted her out of Snows office. She couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. As soon as the peacekeepers left her on the top floor of the tribute centre, with strict orders that someone would come up and prepare her for that evening's interview with Caesar Flickerman.

As soon as they had gone she slammed the door behind them and piece by piece felt her calm pseudo cracking away. She sat on the floor, leaning against the door. She pulled her knees up to her chest and stayed there. She tried to take her mind out of the capitol, to imagine the hot sand between her toes, the cool salt water splashing over her.

She imagined Annie, sweet, innocent Annie, with her long hair and soft smile. The way they sat together on the beach, the only person who didn't suspect any of her secrets, any of her lies. She imagined Mags and her concerned, motherly looks, the intelligence in her gaze that always made her think that she knew everything, everything that she sought to hide.

And then she imagined Finnick. His flirty smile, his innuendos, his sandy, tousled hair. She imagined the way he opened up to her in a way that she could never face doing, how he was so good at putting up a front to hide how he was truly feeling.

That was where she wanted to be, at home with them… with him. But instead she was in the capitol, in the lion's den and she wasn't going to be leaving any time soon.

She felt like she was sitting there for no more than a handful of moments when someone opened the door and she had to scramble, ungracefully, to her feet. Tears sprung to her eyes at the sight of the person in the doorway looking at her.

Her stylist was a tall woman, with tanned skin, dark, black hair, and almond eyes. Her clothes don't look like she's a capitolite, she looks more like she's from Four, with her loose fitting blue and pink sundress and gladiator sandals.

The only thing that marks her as a none district resident is the tattoo on her collar bone that reads "_Every flight begins with a fall_" at first Lyra didn't understand it, but after winning her games she felt like all she had done was fall and her flight hadn't started yet.

The two embraced and Lyra whispered "I'm so happy to see you Wren."

The stylist smiled "Now, girl who ripples, let's get you ready to make some waves."

**Shout out to my two reviewers for the last chapter, Niki &amp; Jazu10501! Let me know what you guys thought;)**

**xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

As the train carrying the district Twelve tributes arrived, Lyra headed down in the elevator to wait for them, in the hope to catch them before they were whisked away for the tribute parade. Wren had put her in a blue and purple dress that went to just above her knees with deep brown gladiator sandals. Her hair had been curled and fell around her shoulders. She had on a brown bracelet that was threaded together with little, forest green leaves, their way of symbolizing both Four and Twelve.

She spotted Effie first, her flamboyant clothes and annoyingly high, but oddly musical voice. Effie of course, spotted her immediately. "Ah Lyra dear, do come over here." Lyra did as she bid and joined the group, gaining a hug from both Effie and Haymitch and confused looks from the two tributes.

"It's good to see you sweetie."

"Thank you Effie, it's great to see both of you."

Haymitch on the other hand, looked far less than pleased. The look he gave her practically screamed _we'll talk about this later._ Mere moments later the two tributes were swept away into the remake centre and Effie disappeared as well. Haymitch took the opportunity and grabbed Lyra by the wrist, dragging her away from the onslaught of cameras.

Once they were alone immediately he said "What the hell are you doing here Lyra?"

She felt uncomfortable for a moment and he noticed her gaze go to the floor and then back up again. "More appointments?" He asked, much more gently.

She nodded. "Snow asked me to help you mentor this year."

For a moment Haymitch was stunned into silence, before he recovered his snarky attitude "He does realize that you're from district Four right? Not Twelve? Is he completely insane?"

Lyra quickly shushed his rapidly rising voice. "Haymitch, isn't this a good thing? This way I'm not out on more appointments and you can keep an eye on me at all times." She paused, allowing him some time to absorb what she was saying, "and I can help train your tributes, Snow knows that Twelve are the least likely to win, but why did he put me here? Clearly he sees something he likes this year. Either that or he's finally realized that you spend more of your time drinking than training."

He scoffed and for a moment he looked angry, but then he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her in for a tight hug. "I missed you kiddo."

"I missed you too." She laughed and then released herself from his grip. "Come on. We need to go out by the horses or we'll miss the whole parade." The two of them then headed out to where all twelve chariots were waiting, along with the rest of the mentors, who were talking quietly amongst themselves about how they would tell their tributes to act.

Effie must have already gone up into the audience to stake claim on their seats. It wasn't long until the tributes started pouring out from the remake centre, the big brutes from Two and Ten, the blond from One, the tiny girl from Ten, who reminded Lyra of herself. The male tribute from Twelve, Peeta, she seemed to recall his name was, came out with Portia after not too long. He looked great in his outfit, like a piece of blackened coal.

Lyra headed over to him and offered her hand, which he took, albeit cautiously. "I'm Lyra Carlisle. I'm mentoring you with Haymitch."

"Peeta." He said, seemingly a lot more comfortable knowing her identity, "and that's Katniss."

Lyra turned and indeed Katniss was walking their way, completely matching Peeta in her attire, though she looked extremely less friendly than he did, in a way she seemed more like Haymitch. Her stylist was right on her heels and he was smirking like Wren did every single time she dressed Lyra in a covert attempt to make a statement in the Capitol. Oh, this was going to be fun.

After how successful the tribute parade went the group, that is, Lyra, Haymitch, Effie, Katniss, Peeta, Portia and Cinna, went to have dinner on the twelfth floor. It was a friendly affair, no matter how uncomfortable Katniss was making it. Peeta was at least making a conversational effort, he couldn't imagine that Haymitch actually had friends and that even had Katniss listening to her response.

It wasn't too late into dinner that Finnick arrived. He rode up on the elevator from the fourth floor and then awkwardly stood at the top of the stairs to the dining room and ran his hand through his tousled hair, clearing his throat. In that instant all of the eyes in the room turned to him, including Lyra's.

"What do you want Odair?"

"Ah, Haymitch, haven't changed I see. Still as polite as ever. But unfortunately I don't have enough time to continue this remarkable conversation , you see myself and Lyra are expected at a meeting with Caesar Flickerman. Do you want to set us a curfew?" Finnick asked sarcastically.

Haymitch and Lyra both stood up, Lyra quickly heading to Finnick's side. Finnick held out his arm, smirking. "Milady." She laughed breathily and gently placed her hand on his forearm.

"Keep her safe Odair."

"I will Haymiych. I will."

Together Lyra and Finnick left the twelfth floor. In the elevator they stood in silence, until Finnick spoke. "I'm sorry Lyra." His voice was soft, gentle, as if he was afraid she would break.

"It's fine Finnick. You wanted to know something that I couldn't tell you. Curiosity was only natural." It infuriated him how she could sound so clinical, so dejected. Where had his Lyra Carlisle gone?

"Please, Lyra, you have to tell me. I can help you, whatever it is, but if you keep me in the dark my mind just keeps going to the worst possible conclusions." He turned to directly face her, "please Lyra. Please." He could see her mask cracking, her stubbornness finally relenting.

"Promise me Finn, promise me you won't tell anyone. You have to promise, you can't tell anyone, not Mags, not Annie, not any-"

"Lyra, calm down, I'm not going to tell anyone, not if you don't want me to."

She sighed, running a hand through her hair, before she scoops it all up and lifts it off of her neck, revealing the barcode and then she turns so that her back is to him.

Finnick inhaled sharply from behind her and raised his hand, running his fingertips across the barcode. She can't help it, but she flinched. He went silent for a moment, before he pressed a feather light kiss onto the back of her neck.

At that point the elevator doors open and she dropped her hair down, allowing it to cover up her neck. Finnick took her hand in his and they headed to go to her interview. When they made it to where she had to wait before Caesar called her up, he quickly kissed her cheek and he was gone before she could say anything about it.

Caesar's questions weren't exactly hard to answer, he mainly asked why she was in the capitol before the games even started, to which she responded, "Oh, well Caesar, I suppose I just can't get enough of everything there is here, I mean, it's so different from what I'm used to back in Four,"

"Considering you don't see people with multi-coloured skin in district Four, I'm not surprised." Caesar laughed. "Now my dear, did you happen to watch the reapings today? It feels like just yesterday it was your reaping."

"Oh my reaping feels like a lifetime ago for me, I mean, I wasn't the only one that thought I wasn't going to make it out, I thought my life was over when in fact it hadn't even started yet." She risked a quick glance at Finnick, sat in the audience, seemingly completely relaxed.

"You certainly are a lot more grown up now than you were then." He broke off to laugh, flashing his absurdly white teeth. "But you were absolutely adorable when I first met you, not that you aren't now of course."

She chuckled, "I was a very different girl back then. I couldn't even begin to imagine being that girl instead of the one I am now."

"Ah yes, I was informed of the hardships of your childhood, your parents and both your brothers were killed in a series of unfortunate events, were they not?"

The audience made some sounds of unhappiness as she nodded, trying to shake away the memories that were threatening to swallow her. "I'm sorry for bringing up some bad memories Lyra, I just thought that this was the perfect time to commemorate their memory, do you not agree?" He aimed the question at the audience, who all cheered.

"My brother would have loved this, being spoken about on the television like this." She laughed. "Now Ceasar, I really think that this year is going to be a great one for the games. There's such a widespread spectrum of tribute calibre, do you not think?"

"Oh yes, you do always have an eye for this sort of thing don't you? I know that the girl from Twelve caused a massive stir at her reaping, volunteering for her sister like she did and I think that girl from Ten has a look of you, but we'll have to wait till after training, won't we?"

The two of them laughed and not too long after that they said goodnight. She was smiling the whole time as she bid the audience adieu and then she quickly left the stage.

Immediately after she escaped the view of the cameras and the capitolian audience she walked head first into Finnick's open arms. She buried her face in his shoulder and inhaled his strong scent. His arms embraced her and she allowed herself to be enveloped in the warmth he offered.

"Come on Lyra, lets get up to the Twelfth floor where we can be sure no cameras are watching us." She nodded and allowed him to pull her along, into the elevator and up onto her floor, where Haymitch was sat on the sofa waiting for them.

As soon as they left the elevator her breathing quickened into harsh, shallow gasps, the pace steadily rising as she fought for the air that wasn't getting into her lungs. The tears stung her eyes and her lungs burned. She could feel hands on her shoulders and vaguely hear the words being whispered in her ear, until all of a sudden the volume increased tenfold.

"Lyra, Lyra listen to me. You are fine. Just breath, alright, stop panicking and breath." She recognized Finnick's voice but no matter how hard she tried to slow her breathing, it just wasn't happening.

"I." She choked, "I can't."

"Yes you can Lyra, you can face off against anything. All you need to do now is slow your breathing. Ok? In, Out. In, out." She tried and tried, but nothing seemed to be working. The blood was pounding in her head, she felt dizzy and just couldn't breath. Memories swirled in front of her eyes, her parents, her brothers, her reaping, her games. It was like a constant replay of everything horrible in her life that she wanted to forget. She wanted to forget all of the emotions, all of the loss. She wanted to forget how Ricky had tried to get better after his accident, how she kissed him on the forehead on the morning of the reapings. She wanted to forget George and how happy he had been, how perfect his life had been. She wanted to forget her parents, her loving parents who died, pleading for their lives, for their childrens lives.

The memories were stuck to her, something she was never going to shake. She couldn't see anything in front of her any more, blinded by the rubble that remained, her life wasn't supposed to be this way, she never wanted it to be this way, she wanted that happy life, the happy family life, the happy everything, but there was nothing. All she got was death, death and loss and destruction of everything and everyone she got close to.

Finnick was in a state of frantic panic. She was right in front of him and he couldn't stop her having a panic attack. "Haymitch, what do you know about another way to stop a panic attack?"

Haymitch thought for a few moments, "Surprise. I'm pretty sure that they'll need to be surprised."

"How are we going to surprise her… Wait, how do you know how to stop a panic attack?"

Haymitch scoffed. "Trust me, every single victor of the games there has ever been has had to learn how to prevent a panic attack. Even the alcoholic, uncaring ones."

Finnick snorted, still wracking his brain for a way to surprise Lyra enough. He tried to think of what would surprise him and then he was struck by an idea. Her breathing was echoing in his head as he frantically thought through exactly how insane his idea might be. "Haymitch. You won't murder me if I stop her panic attack, right?" Haymitch nodded the affirmative.

"Alright Lyra, can you breath for me? Just slow it down."

She shook her head, her eyes wide with panic.

"Don't kill me for this." He muttered, "It'd be a crime to rob the world of my beautiful face."

He took one more deep breath, before he put his hands around her shoulders and pulled her in, kissing her gently, fearful that she might break. He couldn't believe how soft she was, how sweet her lips tasted Almost immediately her breathing levelled out and he pulled away, even though there was some part of him telling him that he didn't want to stop, she looked completely stunned, but she wasn't panicking any more.

Haymitch rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Who immediately thinks of kissing when I say surprise them? And of course it bloody worked!"

**Ok, so I know this chapter is a little cliche and slow, but it is a lot more of a filler chapter before we reach some actual plot. Next chapter should introduce Lyra to Katniss and Peeta and training shall begin!**

**Thoughts? xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

Lyra couldn't remember much of the night before, only the interview and the fact that she broke down in front of Finnick and Haymitch, after that she draws a blank, she doesn't remember how her break down ended, how she ended up in her own room again, only all the stress, the memories, the sensation of falling into the sea and not breaking the surface.

Her face burned with embarrassment as she pulled herself out of bed and on shaky legs moves over to the wardrobe, then the bathroom. As soon as she shuts the bathroom door, immediately after hearing the lock click her hands find the edge of the sink, gripping it in a white knuckle vice grip. She eyes her reflexion suspiciously.

Her blue eyes are wide, red and puffy, but other than that, physically she looked fine. She then realized that that morning was the morning she was supposed to be having breakfast with Haymitch, Peeta and Katniss. She quickly brushed her fingers through her thick hair and pulled back the front of it in a delicate twist, leaving the rest of her hair falling in gentle waves around her shoulders.

Secondly she pulled on a purple vest, paired with a short sleeve orange button up and then dark shorts, purposefully it wasn't something made for the capitol, rather, instead it was something she had worn sitting on the beach with Annie and Mags and Finnick, when they had helped her heal from the loss of her family and become everything she held dear.

When she left the room she pulled on her mid-calf high, dark brown boots and black laces. In the foyer she ran into Haymitch, who smiled and grabbed her hand, practically dragging her towards the breakfast table. His hair was flopped in front of his face, but he doesn't appear to have been on the drink yet.

When they both arrived at the table, both of the tributes were already there, picking at the breakfast foods laid out on the table in front of them. They both looked up when Haymitch and Lyra entered, both Katniss and Peeta looked confused, but the difference between them was that Peeta looked more intrigued whereas Katniss looked suspicious and hostile.

"Ok you two, you met Lyra yesterday, your other mentor. Play nice." And with that Haymitch slopped down into his seat. Lyra nodded her head somewhat awkwardly, but then she caught Peeta's gaze. He smiled and said "Good morning."  
Lyra exhaled in relief at least one warm welcome. "Yeah, good morning."  
She turned to Katniss, who was sat in her chair, openly glaring at the girl in front of her. Lyra didn't extend her hand out that time, instead just tilts her head expectantly. After a few moments of tense silence around the table she finally spoke. "Good morning."  
Lyra grinned at the obvious victory and then slid into the seat opposite Peeta and beside Haymitch.  
Whilst Haymitch explains to the tributes about what they should expect from that days training Lyra sits silently, picking at her immensely full plate of a myriad of coloured foods. She never did eat much of the Capitol food, but it was a bit of a break from the fish back home, although that would always hold her heart. Fish and the beach and her new family.  
After Haymitch finished there was silence for a few moments, before Katniss spoke up. "You're not from Twelve. Why are you going to mentor us?" Ah. Lyra was wondering when that question would crop up. She had fully expected to be asked it the night before over dinner, but they never did ask.  
"Trust me, I would much rather be at home than here, any day." Lyra snapped, before she softened. "I was already in the Capitol and Snow didn't want people to ask questions. So he told me to mentor you two along with Haymitch. It's not the done thing, hasn't happened before I don't think," she cast a quick glance in Effie's' direction, she was nodding. "It hasn't happened before, but nobody questions President Snow."  
Katniss looked perplexed, but at least she seemed satisfied with the response.  
It was Peeta who spoke next. "So, where are you from, if not Twelve?"  
"Four. You remember the 69th games, when that little twelve year old girl won?"  
Both were nodding, their attention rapt, and Peeta spoke again. "The twelve year old victor from district Fou-"  
"That was you?" Katniss interrupted him, sounding vaguely impressed.  
Lyra nodded.  
"Nobody expected you to make it past the cornucopia, even though the games makers gave you a high score." Peeta said whilst he picked up a pink square of food and ate it cautiously.  
"That was the first year my sister watched. I don't think she really understood it, but she kept saying, over and over again that she thought the girl from Four was going to win. I was worried; I thought I'd have to truly explain to her what the games were when that girl died. But she didn't, well you didn't."  
"I do believe we established that, considering I'm eating breakfast with you." Lyra said, feeling much more jovial than she had when she woke up that morning.  
Katniss smirked, just slightly, just fleetingly, but it was there.  
"Look, you two, I know Haymitch has told you some things about what to expect from the games, but just remember, do not let your guard down, your guard will save your life, if you take your eyes off of the goal for even a moment, you will die. You will die and you will never see your families again. It doesn't matter whether you can fight or not. You need to be alert and ready at all times. When you're fighting for your life you don't need technique, you don't need training, you just need to have a weapon in your hand. It could be a sword or it could be a rock, it doesn't matter. You have to fight for your lives and you have to fight hard."  
On that note it was time to leave for training. As Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta left Lyra called out "No self-deprecating either, you need to remember you aren't the livestock they slaughter for food!"  
Haymitch laughed and then the elevator was gone.

The next day Lyra had some time alone with both of the tributes before their evaluations; she spoke to Katniss first, already having sensed that she would be the hardest to get through to.  
The two girls sat on the sofa together, even though they put a fairly sizeable distance between each other. "Look, Katniss, you need to be aware that you won't always have a bow with you-"  
"I know that."  
"Katniss, there will only be one bow in the games, you know what the chances are of you getting it and surviving long enough to use it before you get killed at the cornucopia?"  
Katniss went quiet, but she was still radiating the stubbornness.  
"Have you considered having any allies? Maybe Peeta?"  
The response from Katniss is immediate and strong. "No I won't be going in with allies."  
"That's wise. Haymitch has probably already told you this, but on the off chance that he hasn't, allies aren't always a bad choice. You pick the right ones and they could be key to your survival, they could be the reason you make it out alive. Have you considered that?" Lyra was trying to be gentle, but Katniss wasn't even attempting to hear her out.  
"Have you considered that they could just slit my throat while I'm sleeping?" The response was biting, but Lyra was used to that, she just couldn't seem to find her ground with Katniss, whether the girl hated her or actually listened to her advice was entirely unknown.  
"Do you want my advice or not Katniss? Because at the moment it seems like you're jumping to disprove me every single chance you get." Lyra's temper built quickly, with very little encouragement from Katniss, all her anger and frustration slipping out into her words. "I know you're scared. I know you think you're standing on the cliff of death and think you're about to swan dive, but I think you can make it. I think you have a chance, the first real chance district Twelve has had in years. I've been in your place, but I had worse odds, my mentor did everything he could to tell me how and why he did what he did in the arena, because he made it out and look where I am. He prepared me for what was coming as best as he could and I made it out. So will you let me help you?"  
Katniss doesn't say anything, but she nods and immediately the air is less hostile, her posture more relaxed.  
"Is there anything you want to know specifically?" Lyra asked hesitantly, testing the waters of Katniss' new found respect for her.  
"We can't light fires right? That'd get us killed?"  
"Whatever you do, please don't be stupid enough to light a fire. In the day maybe, but never light one at night. Ever. No matter how cold you get, how much you think you need one. That would be just as bad as throwing down your weapons and shouting for them to come and kill you now."

The conversation with Peeta was a lot easier, but it went in a very similar direction. Peeta seemed to not want allies either, but he definitely wanted the advice from Lyra. With Peeta it was much easier to try and give him advice, he seemed to have less confidence than Katniss, almost certain that he wasn't going to ever see district Twelve again, but he knew his stuff. He asked a couple of questions about the past games, including her own. He had the sense to realize that Lyra had been in his position and she had successfully made it out again, Lyra couldn't help but be thankful that she didn't have to explain to him that she had survived and that she knew things he didn't, he just understood.

The time Lyra had as a mentor for district Twelve was slipping away quickly. It was the only time she had been in the capitol for more than a day without having any appointments, even when she mentored with Finnick for district Four, Snow always found a way to send her to appointments.

She hadn't seen Finnick since her interview with Caesar and she found that she missed him terribly. He was probably busy with Mags and their tributes, but she still missed him.

Lyra had always believed that Katniss and Peeta had a shot at the games and Katniss in particular proved that with her high training score of eleven and Peeta not far behind with his score of eight. The only thing that would be difficult for Katniss, would be the interviews, Lyra knew for certain that Peeta would do fine, with his easy capability at being an approachable person.

Just before the tributes would have to line up backstage Lyra quietly knocked on the door to Katniss' room and then entered. She did look beautiful, the red dress that made her stand out brilliantly. Cinna was standing, well, leaning against the wall, smiling at his work. "Katniss, you look brilliant." Lyra said to her, before turning to Cinna, "I do believe you've outdone yourself since the tribute parade."

"Oh, I know I have." Cinna responded, still smiling.

"Katniss, you know what you're doing for this interview?" Lyra asked.

Katniss sighed, frustrated.

Cinna laughed. "I just told her that she should pretend she was talking to me."

"That's a really good idea. Imagine you're talking to anyone else, anyone that isn't Caesar. He has a habit of accidentally making people feel a bit uncomfortable."

Lyra stood backstage waiting for Peeta after his interview. Purposely standing close to Katniss, who looked like she was ready to kill him the second he was close enough. Personally Lyra thought that he was a genius, getting both of them noticed more by the capitol; it was like every single word he said was a stroke of brilliance.

The moment he came off of the stage Katniss lunged, she didn't make it to Peeta though; Lyra was faster, grabbing Katniss in an attempt to hold her back, while Haymitch stood between them. Katniss needed to realize that Peeta was doing everything to try and help her, he hadn't ruined her image by saying those things, he had probably done the best thing he could have done to get them sponsors, to get them home.

It wasn't much later that one of Snow's lackeys came up in the elevator to the twelfth floor. No words were exchanged, but Effie and Haymitch, from their places sat on either side of Lyra, gently squeezed her shoulders.

Lyra stood and followed the man back into the elevator and out of the training centre. The streets of the capitol were deserted as she was led to the presidents' mansion. In fact, they were so quiet it was almost impossible to believe that those streets were so full during the day. Distantly there were the sounds of parties, celebrating the start of the games the next day.

Snow's mansion is massive and ominous as they approached it; it was dark, shadowed and terrifying. Inside she was led through the halls until they got to Snow's office. He was sat in exactly the same place as he had been the last time she had been in his office and he looked just as threatening.

"Ah, miss Carlisle, as punctual as always I see. I do believe you have fully thrown yourself into mentoring the two tributes from district Twelve." He said.

"Yes, sir, just like you told me to. But, I don't really understand why you want me here; it can't just be to praise me for my mentoring skills?"

"Perceptive as always I see. You are right, that is not the only thing I wish to discuss with you this evening. I am intrigued to know what your plans are for after your tributes are killed this year."

"I'm going back to my district, back home, what did you expect?" Lyra snapped, momentarily forgetting who she was talking to.

"Now, miss Carlisle, no need to get snappy with me, I am your president after all." He pauses for a moment. "Miss Carlisle, I know you wish to go back to your home in your district, but I just don't believe that is effective, I think you are garnering too much suspicion during all of your trips here, you more so than the others, I do believe you should make your 'home' in the capitol, because you happen to adore it here so much."

Lyra doesn't even consider her next response, she just exploded immediately. "No! I will not stay here, I hate it here and I want to go home, back to my home in my district with my family!" She paled immediately, realizing exactly who she had just shouted at.

President Snow smiled when she looked at him again. "I do believe it is time for you to go back to the training centre, it is a big day for your two tributes tomorrow after all."

**I'm quite pleased with how this chapter went. I know I basically covered the entirety of everything before the 74th Games in this chapter, but I just found that with her being a mentor I really wanted to focus on what she was saying to Katniss and Peeta, not any fighting or stuff like that. **

**Thoughts? xxx**


	6. Chapter 6

When they get back to the training centre Lyra was left to get up to the Twelfth floor on her own, but she doesn't. Instead she went to the roof. There was nobody there, just her. She headed closer to the edge and then sat down, the stupidity of her actions finally started to sink in.

President Snow was going to end her. She'd just disappear, wouldn't be alive any more. That is what happens to those who disobey the president, let alone those who shout at him. It wasn't cold outside, but she still felt numb, perhaps it was the coldness of death and its icy fingers initially gaining a grasp on her, perhaps it was the bitterness of despair.

She wasn't aware of how long she sat up there, knees drawn up to her chest and staring at nothing, until she felt a presence beside her. "Lyra?" Finnick. Of course it was Finnick. Slowly she lifted her head to look at him, he looked as chill, as laid back as he usually did, but in his eyes he looked concerned.

"What's going on Ly? What's happened?"

She didn't mean to crumble into his arms, she didn't mean to start crying over a fate she had sealed for herself, but she did. Finnick didn't say anything for a while, just wrapped his arm around her shoulders and drew her into his chest.

"I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to. Oh God, I didn't mean to Finnick, I didn't mean-" When her tears stopped she didn't leave their embrace and he didn't try and pull away either. "What happened Ly? Just tell me and I'll help you. I promise I'll help you, whatever it is."

Lyra swallowed, her voice thick from crying, she responded, "Snow, I was escorted to see Snow again and he said that I was doing well mentoring Katniss and Peeta, then he asked what my plans were after the games and I said that I was going home to district Four and then he said that it wouldn't be effective and that too many people were getting suspicious with my frequent trips to the capitol and back to Four again, he said that I should have my home here instead and I don't know, I just snapped, I told him I hated it here and that I wanted to go home to Four, to my family and then he told me to leave." She paused for a moment and then continued, "I exploded at him and I didn't even realize until after the damage was already done and now he's probably going to put a bullet in my head and kill me."

Finnick squeezed her tighter to his chest. "Snow isn't going to kill you, there'd be uproar in the streets. You probably didn't do yourself any favours, but he had it coming. He's not keeping you here. Your home is in district Four with me." Finnick quickly realized his slip up and continued, "And Annie and Mags, all of us. We're your family and you belong with us."

"Thank you Finn." She said, a few more tears leaking out of her eyes. Gently, as feather light as he possibly could he cupped her face in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe away the tears.

"I won't let Snow hurt you Lyra, I promise." He whispers, kissing her forehead, before standing up and pulling her with him. "Go back to the twelfth floor, you need to sleep before tomorrow, it's going to be a long day tomorrow." For a moment they stand there, frozen, standing so close that they are toe to toe. For a moment she thinks he might want to kiss her, but then he removes his hand from her arm and pulls away, the moment entirely broken.

The next morning when Katniss, Peeta and their stylists left to head to the arena, Haymitch and Lyra headed down to the mentors room. The atmosphere wasn't as jovial as it usually was, everyone was respectfully in silence. Haymitch and Lyra sat together, with Finnick, Johanna, Seeder and Chaff. Other mentors were dotted around the whole room; everyone was waiting tensely for the countdown to end.

There was one big screen in the room, nearly filling the whole of one wall, surrounded by the twenty four smaller screens that had on them a picture of each tribute, their district, their training score and whether they were alive or dead, which all of them were at this point.

When the countdown reached twenty most of the tributes could be seen preparing themselves, eyeing up exactly where they wanted to run for. Lyra was slightly relaxed that Peeta looked ready to flee from the cornucopia, which is what they suggested for both of them to do, but Katniss was looking uncertain as to where she was going to go.

Haymitch looked somewhat interested as the countdown got lower and lower, all of the mentors glued to the screens, waiting to see how many of their tributes would be killed in the bloodbath. If their tributes were killed in the bloodbath the mentors would often just sit in the room drinking or talking to their friends, usually, that was Haymitch almost immediately.

The countdown runs down and the horn sounds. All of the tributes scramble in a myriad of different directions, most running for the cornucopia, aside from Peeta and the district Five female. Lyra kept her eyes glued on Katniss, who managed to grab a backpack and escape, despite nearly getting a knife in the gut from one of the careers, which was only blocked by the backpack.

Once Katniss was gone the bloodbath continued, but it was almost impossible to track who was alive and who was dead. The bloodbath lasted little more than fifteen minutes, eleven tributes dead. Eleven children dead. Three districts out, Six, Seven and Nine. Johanna wasn't at all impressed; a brilliant array of expletives left her mouth, before she finished off with "They were never going to win anyway. Didn't listen to my advice."

After the initial bloodbath the mentors were much more relaxed, talking and breaking open the alcohol bottles, but, as tradition insisted, nobody drank whilst both of their tributes were still alive, which meant that only Cashmere, Gloss, Brutus, Enobaria, Seeder, Chaff, Haymitch and Lyra weren't drinking but only the mentors for Six, Seven and Nine were getting fully drunk, because of their lack of tributes.

Haymitch spoke after a few minutes of watching the screen. "So, both of them are still alive, better than I can say for most years. You've done good kid."

"I'm not the only one that's done good Haymitch, you sobered up for those two; it was a team effort to help them, just like it'll be a team effort to keep them alive."

"That it will be, kid."

After hours of watching the screens, seeing Peeta and the careers, Katniss getting further and further away from the rest of the tributes and the others finding places to settle down for the night, most of the mentors decide to work out their timetable. Finnick and Lyra both decided to stay for the first night, so that Haymitch and Mags could go get some sleep.

As the days tick by more and more lives are lost and the outlook for Katniss and Peeta begins to look exceedingly grim. On the fifth day Haymitch and Lyra manage to send Katniss a gift from the sponsors to heal the burns she received, but she is in a tree, surrounded by the careers. There isn't much either of them can do to help her and it's maddening. They always know that it's down to the tributes themselves to make sure that they survive, but this year it just feels more painful. Usually Haymitch as the sole mentor to the district Twelve tributes watches as both die in the bloodbath, or light a fire on the first night, but that hasn't happened, well into the games both Katniss and Peeta are alive and he finds himself wanting to see them both come home.

By the time day nine comes around the top eight is left, districts Eleven and Two are the only ones left with both tributes, aside from Haymitch and Lyra. It is obvious by that point that while Peeta is starting to struggle under the insurmountable pressure, Katniss is finally finding her footing, her alliance with Rue becoming more and more beneficial (saving her after the incident with the tracker jacker nest, but also exceedingly dangerous, Katniss is becoming too attached, too close with Rue and that will only end badly.

Lyra is glued to the screen, Haymitch is glued to the screen. All of the other mentors seem nonchalant, the majority of the mentors that have lost both of their tributes by this point have gone back to the tribute centre, granted, it probably shouldn't be referred to as the tribute centre while there are no tributes there.

"Haymitch," Lyra says quietly, "Katniss is about to run headfirst into the careers landmines…"

"Let's hope she has some sense to not do-"Haymitch stops suddenly when a flash of red hair cuts across the screen, the district Five female. Immediately both mentors sigh in relief as she dances across the ground towards the pile of supplies straight in front of Katniss's eyes. "Now, all we need is for Katniss to have a good memory and she's golden." Lyra mutters, but neither of them tears their eyes away from the screen.

It is a tense few minutes as Katniss formulates her plan and fires at the pile of supplies. One shot, miss.

Two shots, breaks the bag of apples, but not enough so that anything falls out. As she releases the third arrow, Lyra inhales nervously and then, then the arrow finds its mark. One by one the apples drop slowly as if they are taunting both Katniss and both of them. The moments of tense, ominous silence shatter immediately as the apples roll onto the ground over the landmines and then the whole pile is up in smoke.

"That girl. That girl has a crazy, stubborn, infuriating and brilliant brain on her." Haymitch says and Lyra can't help but chuckle. It is obvious in the aftermath of the explosion that Katniss has in some way been injured, she's lying in the bushes, staring and scrambling backwards as the boy from One, Cato, Lyra believes his name is, grabs the boy from Three and snaps his neck.

It seems that is what Katniss needed to snap her back into action. She gets to her feet and disappears before the careers even realize she was there. "That's it Katniss. Get out of there." Lyra whispers. The camera then cuts over to where Peeta is laying, blood seeping from the deep gash in his thigh, which he has clearly attempted to somehow bind, but he looks pale from blood loss and remains in his place on the ground, slowly, ever so slowly, painting himself to blend in with the rock he's on.

His plan, actually seems rather ingenious, if he manages to fully conceal himself before any other tributes come across him he might actually have a shot, that is if he didn't have a serious wound that needed actual medical attention. "Haymitch, he needs help or he's going to die there."

"I know, I know, but there isn't much we can do about that, people want to sponsor the winners, the ones that actually have a shot. Look at him, look at that wound he's got. Do you think people want to spend their money on him, when they could spend their money on Cato or Clove or even Rue and Katniss? Lyra, I know he needs help, but there isn't anything we can do for him. The kid's on his own."

"Then what is the point of all this?" Lyra snaps. "What is the point of mentoring them, of telling them that they can do so many things to get more sponsors, only to give up on them when they actually need us? When they actually need the sponsors all of this time in the capitol was for? Peeta did everything right here! He was the one that went up to fight to get himself sponsors and to get Katniss sponsors and look where he is now! He's going to die in there Haymitch, he's going to die and there's nothing we can do to help him by sitting here on our asses and staring at a screen and watching as twenty three innocent people die!"

"Lyra take a breath! What is it about this year? What is it about these two that have you so wound up?"

"Everything is crumbling! Snow is finally starting to lose the control he has on us, after everything he's done to me, after everyone I've lost, he did this to me on purpose. He put me as district Twelve's second mentor this year because district Twelve always lose. He's trying to shove me back in line by making me watch as Katniss and Peeta die and –"

"Shh, Lyra breath. Breath. Why would Snow do something like this to you on purpose? I don't understand sweetheart." Haymitch says while gently rubbing circles into her back with his palm.

"Because I defied him! I shouted at him and he didn't like it! He wants to hurt me, destroy me, all because all I've done is defy him at every turn and he doesn't like it!"

"Well, Snow's going to be proved wrong now isn't he? Katniss and Peeta are going to be alright, one of them will get out of there, maybe Peeta, maybe Katniss, but one of them will come back to us. Don't worry about them, we gave them all of the advice we could have given them. We prepared them as best as we could, we gave them every opportunity to learn everything they needed. It is not your fault if they die and it is not Snows' decision what happens to them. You may have screwed up, you could have gotten under his skin, setting him off ease, but that doesn't mean he gets to do whatever he wants. Sure he's the president and he has the power to make our lives a living hell before he kills us, but he can't control us. We are human beings, we make our own choices and once we've made a choice we follow it, no matter what the consequences will be."

Nine days later, just after the finale, just after the death of Cato, Lyra and Haymitch sit in those same seats, amazed at what they were seeing unfold on the screen. Katniss and Peeta stand together, both grinning and they kept repeating "We won, we won, We actually won." Like it's a mantra that they have to keep repeating or else they won't believe it.

Haymitch puts his arm around Lyra's shoulder, smiling and looking like he could just jump off of a cliff and grow wings and nothing could stop him. "See, what did I tell you Lyra? Snow can't control-" The sound of an announcement ringing through the arena stops both of them in their tracks. It takes them a few moments to fully realize that the rule of two tributes from the same district being able to win has just been rescinded.

Haymitch curses. Lyra gasps. "They can't do that, they can't do that." Lyra mutters incessantly. "They can't let them have that much hope that they could come home together only to rip it away from them now. That's cruel. When they weren't allies that meant they didn't have to be on the other side of the weapon that took the others life. It meant they could be disconnected, not entirely affected by the others death. They can't have them kill each other. They just can't."

It seems that Katniss has the same idea, producing the nightlock berries that were the cause of Foxfaces' demise two days earlier. "I can't decide whether to be insanely frustrated that they're actually going through with this or insanely proud." Haymitch mutters.

Katniss and Peeta both hold the berries in their hands maintaining eye contact with each other and only each other as slowly they raise the berries up to their mouths. The tense moment doesn't last long, as the berries get to just before being swallowed the announcer screeches desperately, ordering them to stop, telling them that it didn't matter now, announcing them as the victors of the Seventy Fourth annual Hunger Games.

"What did I tell you kid? Snow can't control what happens in the games just as much as we can't. We won this year, Lyra. We did it. We played the game and we got both of them back alive."

Just before the winners interview with Caesar, whilst Haymitch goes to talk to Katniss, Lyra grabs Peeta in his dressing room just after his stylist left. She doesn't bother with any niceties or another congratulatory speech, knowing that even in the short time both he and Katniss have been back from the arena both of them have probably already had enough, instead she launches straight in with her warnings.

"You are crazy in love with this girl, it's not just a crush and there is no doubt in your mind that she feels the same way, not even in the slightest and you would have rather have her shoot you than you even try to harm her, that's why you threw that knife into the lake. You didn't initially ally with her because she was hesitant and neither of you wanted to be the cause of the others death."

Peeta opens his mouth to say something, but Lyra quickly raises her hand to stop him "As soon as the rule was announced that the two of you could go home together if you both survived, you were impossibly happy and wished you could go seek her out. With the deep wound in your leg all you could do was camouflage yourself and keep strong in the belief that your love would guide her to you. When she suggested the berries you knew it was the only feasible solution because you couldn't imagine ever returning to district Twelve without her. You couldn't imagine any life at all without her. Do you understand?"

Peeta nods and then speaks "I love her Lyra, you don't need to tell me all of this."

Lyra sighs. "I know you love her, Peeta, but are you certain of her feelings for you?" She pauses at Peeta's wounded expression, "what I mean is, are you in reality one hundred percent sure that her feelings for you are true? That she loves you as much as you love her? Because that's what the capitol needs to believe. That is what the president needs to believe. Katniss's little stunt with the berries, I know that both of you couldn't face killing each other and that is the only reason she did it, but other people might not see it that way."

He nods and Lyra leans in and hugs him. It is somewhat awkward at first, but he relaxes into it. When they break apart she says "Good luck out there." And then she's gone.

She meets Haymitch before they go join the audience. "Do you think they can do this?" She asks.

"It's going to be a hard sell, but Katniss knows the gravity of everything she says tonight. I think she just wants to get home now."

"I know the feeling."

"All we have to do is watch the recaps, sit through the interview and then we can all finally be on our merry way back home. Don't take this the wrong way kid, but I hope I don't see you again until the victory tour."

Lyra laughs. "Trust me, all I want is a long few months back in my own district, with my family. I've seen enough of this place to last me a lifetime."

**So... This chapter is I think my longest one to date and I know it covers a whole lot of stuff. The next chapter we'll be entering the time of Catching Fire!**

**Thoughts?**


	7. Chapter 7

When Lyra made it back to district Four she ran through the town straight to victors' village. She doesn't bother going to her house, despite the fact she hasn't actually been in it in weeks, instead she runs straight to Annie's.

The door is wide open, swinging in the light breeze and the echoes of voices from the living room reach her just as she crosses the threshold into the hallway. She kicks off her shoes and quietly makes her way through the house, following the voices.

She remains silent as she tiptoes to the living room, spying Mags, Annie and Finnick. Annie and Finnick are sat on the couch, Annie on the one end, Finnick on the other and Mags is sat in the armchair just within arms' reach of Annie. She can hear their conversation once she's closer and she doesn't intend to make her presence known.

"When's Lyra going to be back Finnick?" Annie asks, her voice sounding youthful and innocent.

"Some point today hopefully, she had to stay a few days longer because her tributes won." Finnick answers gently, carefully not mentioning the games lest it trigger one of Annie's attacks.

"I miss her Finn." Annie squeaks, again sounding far younger than her twenty years.

"We all do."

Lyra tiptoes closer, straight into the eye line of Mags, who doesn't react to having seen her at all. In one quick movement she wraps her arms around Finnick's neck, laughing as he freezes and almost flips her over. "Hey Finn." She says happily.

"Lyra." He says her name like it's a sigh of relief and then he physically pulls her over the top of the couch so that she lands in the spare spot between Finnick and Annie. Finnick wraps his arm around her shoulders and Annie squeals and hugs her tightly. "I missed you so much!" Annie cries, squeezing her tighter.

"Well, I'm here now Annie and I don't intend to leave again until the victory tour."

"The victory tour? Why'd you have to go to that?" It's obvious that Annie is rapidly slipping into one of her attacks.

"Ann, you know that mentors have to go on the victory tour with the victorious tributes. Snow had me mentor Katniss and Peeta, so that means I have to go with them on the victory tour."

"But that's not for a few months, right? You can't leave us too soon, you just can't-"

"Take a breath Annie; you're right, you're right. It's not for a few months, it's not until it's cold outside. I might have to visit Haymitch once, but that's all, I promise." Just like that Annie was alright again, all traces of the oncoming attack disappearing instantly.

On that note Finnick stands, taking her hand in his. "Come on. Let's get you home, I hope it's not too dusty after all this time."

She lightly slaps him on the arm. "I've been away for just over a week, not just over a decade! My home won't have fallen into disarray in that amount of time!"

Finnick opens her door and allows her to go inside before him. The house looks perfect, nothing dusty like Finnick alluded it to be, just waiting for her return. She pads around on the light wood floor and revels in the quiet that surrounds her. In the capitol everything, everywhere had a distinct thrum of noise about it, all the time, but not here.

"I'll leave you to settle back in, see you at the beach in a couple of hours? Annie wanted to go a bit later today." He says as he leaves, not giving her any time to respond, before he's out of the house and she's alone. Immediately she sighs, dropping onto the couch with an immense feeling of relief. Finally she has some time to herself, to finally be able to breath and shout and scream if she wants to without anyone immediately breathing down her neck. Her house is one of the only places she can fully relax without having to worry about anything. Her house is her safe place.

The days tick by like seconds in Four. A simple, peaceful life presents itself and Lyra wishes that that is the life she could always have. Days revolving around her family, hanging out at the house with Annie and Mags, the beach with Finnick and no threats of danger. It's like living in a bubble of a perfect life, without the Games, without all the pain and loss and struggle.

Lyra decides not to visit district Twelve before the tour, instead to head to Twelve a couple of days before she's supposed to be there and as the temperature gradually gets colder she knows that the inevitable goodbyes are getting closer.

On the day her train arrives to carry her across to district Twelve she briefly entertains the thought of leaving, as early as possible and as quickly as possible, to avoid having to say goodbye to any of them. But she quickly dismisses that thought, she couldn't leave them without any word, not again. The first person she goes to see is Mags. Few words are exchanged, but Lyra leaves feeling comforted that the older woman understands why she has to leave and will continue to help Annie understand.

Next she goes to Annie's, fervently dreading how the girl will respond. Before she even makes it through the door Annie is embracing her tightly and she can feel her tears dampening her brown leather fur lined jacket, that thoroughly warms her in this district, but very likely won't in anywhere after district Eight. Annie doesn't relinquish her hold at all, but she isn't begging for her to stay like she expected her to be.

"Annie, hey, don't cry." Lyra gently unwinds Annie's arms from around her and instead lightly lifts her head up so she's looking her in the eyes. "Ann, I'll be back, just over two weeks and I'll be right back here."

"Promise?" Annie asks quietly and Lyra can immediately see that although she is upset an attack seems unlikely.

"I promise Annie. I'll be back here on your doorstep again, just you wait and see."

"I love you Lyra."

"I love you too."

This time the embrace between them is just that, an embrace. Not Annie clinging onto Lyra, both of them clinging onto each other for the brief moment when it is necessary. The embrace doesn't last long and Lyra is the one who reluctantly breaks it, fixing the bag on her shoulder and then slowly backing away from the door, before heading to Finnicks'.

Just before she makes it there Annie calls out "Hurry home!"

Lyra shouts back "I always will!" and then she goes the rest of the way to Finnick's

His goodbye is somewhere in the region between Mags's and Annie's. They don't exchange many words and it isn't as emotional as he doesn't need the reassurance that she'll come back. He knows she doesn't have a choice. He understands that nearly all of the people in her life that she truly cares about are here, so she won't leave without coming back. But he also knows that she loves Haymitch like family too and maybe, if given enough time, the two new victors of district Twelve, so he also knows that she won't exactly be running to get back.

"Finn, I'll try to sneak away when the train stops here, in-" she pauses for a breath, "eleven days, because I'm spending three days in Twelve and then Eleven, Ten, Nine, Eight-"

He gently raises his hands and places them gently on her shoulders, calming her. "Hey, I know that. Take a breath. You'll have to through all the districts until you get here and even once you're here you might not be able to get to come see us. But I'll get to see you when you're in the capitol, I'll definitely be there, so that means that you'll see me in fifteen days and then maybe we'll get to come back on the same train."

She laughs. "That sounds like a plan Finn."

He then pulls her in for another hug and kisses her forehead. "It's always a plan Ly."

The train ride to Twelve doesn't feel very long any more, she's made the trip enough times to fully understand exactly how long it is, probably down to the minutes and seconds. She takes a small loaf of bread on her way off the train and as soon as her feet make contact with the hard ground of district Twelve she inhales deeply. It doesn't have the same aroma as her home district, but the air is fresh and that's enough. The only thing markedly different from her previous visits is the fact that the air is tense and heavy, which is slightly worrying, but she brushes it off.

There are crowds of people in the narrow streets and when Lyra sees a small girl, no more than seven years old, skin and bones, almost emaciated and wondering around the town alone, she crouches down in front of her. "What's your name sweetie?" She asks.

"Katelyn." The girl stutters. Her dark hair falls in tangles around her and Lyra can't help but reach out and run her fingers through it to rid it of the knots. "Well Katelyn, do you want to take this bread home to your mummy and daddy? I'm sure they'll love it." And she holds the loaf out.

Katelyn quickly takes the bread and then gazes at Lyra nervously. "I don't have no mummy or daddy. My mummy and daddy died. Does that mean you want your bread back?" Lyra feels instantly guilty, but tries to smile warmly anyway. "I guess that means you just get to keep it all for yourself instead then sweetheart." And then Lyra stands up, continuing on towards victors village.

"Wait! Miss, what's your name?" Katelyn calls after her.

"Lyra!"

"Thank you for the bread miss Lyra!"

"Don't worry about it Katelyn!" With that no more words were exchanged and Katelyn blends away into the crowds of people.

It doesn't take long for Lyra to make it the rest of the way to victors village and for a moment she just stands in the gateway, taking in the sight of the three houses with lights on in the windows instead of just one. She can't help the slight chuckle when she realizes that puts district Twelve only one victor behind her own.

It is Peeta that she sees first, coming down the steps from his door. He smiles when she meets his gaze and carries on making his way down the steps. For a moment she wonders why he seems to be struggling so much and then she remembers his prosthetic. It is just like a normal leg most of the time, but Peeta won't have gotten used to it on ice, not in the summery months since he got it.

Lyra moves swiftly across the open space between them and just as he makes it to the bottom of the steps she meets him and hugs him warmly. This hug, unlike their first one, isn't awkward. It is the hug of two friends being reunited after a long time without seeing each other.

"How are you Peeta?" She asks when they pull back.

"Good, well, better than I was when we first got back I suppose. The leg took some time to get used to." He smiles good naturedly. "How about you? Did you have a nice relaxing few months back home?"

"Yeah, it was exactly what I needed. Some time to unwind with my family other than in the capitol."

Slowly the two of them make their way back up the steps towards the house. "What are your family like?" he asks nicely.

Lyra swallows. "My family of victors, Finn, Mags and Annie. I love them and they're brilliant."

Peeta smiles, obviously he understands what she means and doesn't press for more information, for which she is glad. "Haymitch is here, if you're wondering," he says. "I thought that I should try and keep him company at least a little when you're not around."

Lyra wonders if Haymitch agreed to go to Peeta's for the company, or to drink the alcohol that Peeta almost certainly hadn't drunk. She doesn't voice that and instead just follows him inside, dropping her duffel bag by the door and following Peeta into the dining room.

Haymitch is sat at the dining room table, a bottle of whiskey positioned in front of him. "Haymitch, look who's here." Peeta says.

Haymitch looks up and as soon as he sees Lyra he cracks a smile. "Is it the tour already?" He asks lazily.

"No, not for a couple of days but I thought I'd head down here a bit earlier so that I could already be nicely situated here when the cameras arrived, not looking out of place, if you get what I mean."

"Of course kiddo. You want one of my spare rooms?"

She bobs her head, "yeah, thanks, I hoped somebody would offer."

Haymitch barks out a laugh. "That's just like you. Meticulously planned out, just not to the finer details." He pauses for a second. "How's Annie Cresta doing? She got any worse?"

"What is this? Haymitch Abernathy asking about the well being of another person? I'm amazed." She says sarcastically, before sobering slightly. "She's doing alright. She's better when all four of us are at home, it was hard on her, when we all went to mentor for the last games though, she struggled for a while to get better again."

Haymitch nods solemnly. "The doors unlocked to my place, if you want to go set yourself up. Second door on the left, the spare room." He says. Lyra nods gratefully and heads out, saying goodbye to Peeta on the way.

The guest room in Haymitch's house is much the same as her own room back home, just mustier because nobody has lived in it for the entire time Haymitch has owned the place, that being coming up to twenty five years. She doesn't take her things out of her duffel, she just puts the duffel at the foot of the bed and leaves it as she leaves the house again.

As she leaves the house to head back over to Peeta's she sees a man, he's young, maybe eighteen or nineteen, with thick brown hair and he has a sturdy build and is over six feet tall. He sees her and raises his hand in a somewhat awkward wave. She waves back and then walks over to talk to him.

"Who are you?" She asks in the politest way possible.

"Who are you?" he's defensive, almost as if he thinks she could pull a gun at any point and shoot him.

"Lyra. Lyra Carlisle, victor of the sixty ninth hunger games, district Four."

"Gale Hawthorne. I'm friends with Katniss." The look on his face when he says her name leads her to believe that he doesn't want to be just friends with her, but she doesn't say anything about it. "So what are you doing in Twelve?" He asks.

"Victory tour. I helped mentor Katniss and Peeta so I have to go on the tour with them. What are you doing in victors village? Visiting Katniss?"

"Yeah, we always go-" he suddenly seems sheepish, as if he's thinking his answer through. "out together. It's something we've done since we were kids."

"I should let you get to Katniss's then. But Gale, don't forget that the capitol will always have one eye on her, on the star crossed lovers. Careful you don't get caught in the cross fire, because it never ends well." He looks somewhat stunned, but before he can respond she moves around him and back across to Peeta's.

"Hey, Haymitch, how much does Katniss hang out with Gale Hawthorne?" She calls as she comes in, she doesn't get a response until she is in the dining room, sliding into the third seat around the table, the other two occupied by Haymitch and Peeta.

"They've been friends since they were kids." Peeta supplies." "They both hunt." Lyra feels slightly guilty when she recognizes Peeta's tone, but doesn't say anything.

"Peeta, do you think the two of you will be ready for the tour the day after tomorrow? The capitol won't accept it if they see you two as frosty as this. The capitol will expect the star crossed lovers, the two that preferred to die than live without the other."

"I know but-"

"No, Peeta, there isn't a but. If the capitol see you and Katniss like this, they won't accept it. They will believe that the berries were an act of rebellion. Not an act of love. We don't want that. If Snow thinks that then you are dead. You are dead, she is dead and both Haymitch and I are dead. They need to believe that since the games you and Katniss have been closer than ever, that you love each other so much that very simply, even though your houses are closer than ever, they are still too far apart."

Peetat nods.

"We all know Katniss is the one to struggle with the acting, not you. So you need to play it. Set the bar for her to rise to. Everyone needs to believe in the star crossed lovers. It cannot be in doubt at all. Alright?"

He nods again. "Katniss doesn't love me. All of the things we did in the games, it was all for the cameras. There was a moment when I believed her, you know? I thought that she… But I thought wrong."

Lyra feels vaguely sympathetic, but doesn't voice that. "Peeta, take everything one step at a time. We need to get through this tour. After the tour we can look at what comes next. You can do this."

"Thanks Lyra. You know, I am glad you're here."

"Don't thank me now Peeta, thank me when this is over."

Two days later Effie arrives, along with the stylists and prep teams. Lyra meets them when they get off the train. She walks in between Effie and Cinna, with the rest following a few paces behind. "Everything's very tense. I'd watch what you say to Katniss today."

"That girl needs to improve her attitude." Effie says, Lyra can't help but chuckle at the indignation in her voice.

"She doesn't need to change her attitude, she just needs to put a new one on for the cameras."

The streets in Twelve are almost completely empty as they walk to Victors village, which Lyra is glad for. The walk is short, but it seems to last hours in the cold silence. When they make it to the gates Effie stops and raises her hand. Lyra doesn't stop walking, instead she goes straight to Haymitch's door and slips in.

He is waiting by the door, fully dressed and prepared for the cameras, but he looks worried. "You think they can pull this off?" He asks her as she leans her back against the door.

"Peeta can. I know he can."

"It's not Peeta I'm worried about."

"Katniss knows what's at stake. Maybe more than any of us. She's not told us something, her whole demeanour's changed, like something opened her eyes to how much is resting on her shoulders. She has to look out for Prim, her mother, Gale. She'll succeed for them."

"How can you put so much faith in her?"

"Because I was in her shoes once. I was younger and I didn't have to pull off this love story, but I had to protect my family. If somebody would have told me that my family would die if I tripped up, I would have done anything, anything at all to protect them. I was young, I was scared. I was too naïve to think that my family weren't safe and I lost them. Katniss has her eyes open. Katniss knows what could happen. She will pull this off."

"I hope you're right kid."

"We know what will happen if she slips, she stumbles it's our job to repair the damage. I'll script every word out of her mouth if I have to. She will not lose her family. She will not end up like me."

**Next Chapter the train and district 11! Thoughts?**


End file.
